


Unexpected Readers

by Ilphros



Series: Journals of a Lominsan Scholar [2]
Category: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:27:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24676912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilphros/pseuds/Ilphros
Summary: Tales of each time someone has read - or at least, tried to read - Khuja'to's journals without his permission. Chapters are not necessarily in chronological order.
Series: Journals of a Lominsan Scholar [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1770475
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Unexpected Readers

Khuja’to noticed, but largely ignored, the disquieted feeling in the Waking Sands. All but blatant announcements of Primal-summonings being guided as weapons by some barely-seen, shadowy hand - and hints of yet subtler plans also twisting through the world - had driven Urianger deep into research, and everyone felt the creeping urgency. This was felt not least because the books had taken over another table - Urianger’s view of spare surfaces tended towards ‘Ah, yes, an extra bookcase to organize my research.’

Tail lashing with stress, Khuja’to carefully picked through the books, filled with a rather more personal urgency – he had discovered one of his personal journals to be missing, and for at least a day, perhaps as much as a week. He bit his tongue, hoping that his glares and tense body language would be somewhat less offensive than the Lominsan curses he almost wanted to let loose.

\---

Unfortunately, several minutes of searching rendered nothing except a faint headache from his proximity to so many unshelved books, his fingers itching slightly with the desire to put them away properly or at least… neaten the piles a little. He knew better than to attempt it, though; he never again wanted to see Urianger looking so terribly small and forlorn, even if neither of them had spoken of it directly.

With nothing to show for his searches, he decided to ask Minfilia if he might have left it, somehow, in her office. The guard – Swoe… Swyz… Named something starting, probably, with ‘S’ – waved him in as if he were expected, and opening the door sent a chill down his spine. Everyone from Minfilia to Yda was present, and turned to face him as one. Every one of the core Scions, plus Alphinaud, stared directly at him with varied and difficult-to-read expressions. Minfilia, at least, seemed pleased.

“Ah, you’re arrived! How fortuitous, I only just sent for you.” Khuja’to simply nodded awkwardly in response, which seemed sufficient. Just entering the room always reminded him of the history he was very much the newcomer to. “Urianger, Y’shtola, and Thancred were briefing us on what their research and contacts have turned up so far.”

Urianger shifted in place slightly, drawing attention to the shifting shadows of his perpetually hooded face and the unassuming tome he held in his hands.

“I am afraid I have naught of true import to say, milady, save that I doth feel a curse upon mine very soul – ah, metaphorically. Countless tomes have I pored over for a hint of our foes both Primal and other. Thus far have I found but this journal – a wealth of information, save that it reports nothing not already discovered in our prior researches!”

Miqo’te scholar stared at Elezen scholar, and then Khuja’to half-screeched, half-mewled as he snatched the tome Urianger held before it could be dramatically tossed to the desk. “That’s because it’s _my journal_ , Urianger!” He clutched the recovered journal close and then awkwardly slung it in its customary place at his side, mumbling and already embarrassed at the attention he had drawn, “No wonder I couldn’t find it…”

Some of the Scions smiled slightly, and Urianger remained utterly silent and still – his embarrassment quietly implied by his refusal to speak and thus prove it true. Y’shtola, on the other hand, simply grinned - and drawled, “I did try to warn you, Urianger. At any rate, it was a decent treatise, Relanah, but you really ought to practice your handwriting more.”

\---

After the mortifying encounter, Khuja'to spent a half-hour ensuring that all his journals and notes had his name placed clearly near the start, and removing Urianger's loose leaves of notes from between pages.


End file.
